Review: Titans Annual #2

by Steven Brown
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[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers!]

Writer: Dan Abnett

Pencils: Tom Grummett, Tom Derenick

 

Summary

The villain known as Brain is coming close to becoming a god as the Justice League are trapped battling storms and other evils targeted to just them. Batman is trapped in the Watchtower, Superman is an unbreakable prison, while Wonder Woman and Flash are trapped in major storms fighting for their lives! The world’s only hope lies in a fractured team that isn’t supposed to be together in the first place– the Titans!

Positives

Donna and Roy have become my favorite power couple outside of Batman and Catwoman! These two really dominate and shine in this issue, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks to Brain and his assistant the super smart ape Mallah, Brain is controlling every weather pattern on the planet and more as his mind absorbs more power. Mallah soon learns that the more power Brain gets, the more detached from humanity he’s becoming and that’s making their relationship pretty troublesome. Mallah suspected this actually in the previous issue, but it finally comes to light here as Mallah is abandoned by Brain who’s left fighting the Titans alone. As Mallah suffers defeat, it’s Nightwing and Donna that ultimately convince Mallah that if he wants to save Brain he’ll need to help them as well. It’s Mallah’s betrayal of Brain that starts the downfall of Brain, but thanks to the quick thinking and aim of Harper the world is saved!

Negatives

I have no negatives about this issue. It seems that finally the Titans may get the respect they deserve from the League, as no one–including Batman knew who was actually behind the threat. Roy who was warning everyone early on, gets an apology from basically his entire team, which instead of just accepting–he has to argue as well. The banter between Roy an Dick never gets old as Roy comes off with an ” I told you so” attitude towards Dick, which Donna quickly corrects Roy on. It’s these small interactions that show you just how close the Titans are, maybe even more so than the Justice League. Although these heroes are teammates, they constantly remind each other that they’re friends first, and that in itself says a lot about the character of this team.

 

Verdict

Overall I thought Titans Annual #2 was a great read! Personally I always thought Mallah and Brain were always two bottom tier villains that weren’t really a big threat. Abnett even addresses this through Mallah, who talks about how both the hero and villain communities mocked them at best. However this only strengthened their resolve, and I’m actually looking forward to seeing these two villains return again at some point. The story ends with Donna calling Batman and letting the League know it was them that saved the world–I can’t wait to see how the Justice League responds to this!

 

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